During the first three months of the new scheme, recycling went up by six per cent. A total of 19,830 tonnes were collected under the new system, compared to 18,666 tonnes in the same quarter the previous year.

North Lanarkshire Council red-tagged bins that did not comply with the new waste collection recycyling scheme.

A report that went before North Lanarkshire Council’s Infrastructure Committee said: “The initial projections are promising in that we will collect more recyclate than what was envisaged, the quality of recyclate is significantly above the predicted levels and the levels of residual waste have been reduced.

“When further assessment is made of all waste streams the prediction is that the council will achieve a recycling rate of 47 per cent during 2017/18. This is compared to the 41 per cent achieved during 2016/17.”

The report states that people recycled 1598 more tonnes of food and garden waste than predicted. It also says paper and card recycling was 55 tonnes more than expected. However, recycling of glass, metal and plastic were 1600 tonnes lower than what had been anticipated.

And the overall tonnage of waste and quality collected in the first three months of the service is: Paper/card – 5915 tonnes (90 per cent Band 1 quality, 10 per cent Band 2); glass/metal/plastic – 6283 tonnes (95 per cent Band 1, 5 per cent Band 2); Food/garden – 6866 tonnes (95 per cent Band 1, 5 per cent Band 2); other mixed recyclable materials – 766 tonnes.

“There were significant problems at the introduction of our new service, and we do appreciate the inconvenience this caused to residents,” said Councillor Michael McPake, convener of the Environmental Service Committee.

“Although most of these problems have now been resolved, we recognise there are still issues affecting certain areas of the authority and we are continuing to work to address these.

“Despite these problems, residents clearly want to recycle as much waste as possible and have responded positively by using the three recycling bins effectively. As a result, we have seen more recyclable materials collected and the quality of that material is high, which means less residual waste goes to landfill.”

The council report says that the majority of properties (around 120,000) are on the four-bin system, adding: “Through the first three weeks of the service around 40,000 tags were issued and although this provided significant operational issues which required the uplift of all 40,000 contaminated bins, this short-term issue is now paying dividends as the quality of recyclate being collected is significantly above that predicted.”

It continues: “Whilst it is accepted that continued tagging will be essential to ensure the best quality of recyclate, feedback received from residents suggested that there had been an overly strict approach with bins being rejected for single items of contamination.

“Further training and instruction has now been provided for all front line operatives to ensure that a more pragmatic approach is taken and through this and improved compliance by residents the number of tagging incidents has reduced significantly but the quality of recyclate has remained very high.

“This suggests that the initial approach has provided the desired outcome and a more flexible approach will continue. However, from March contaminated bins will not be uplifted until the next cycle as the additional resources to support implementation of the new service will be removed and we will revert to the policy requirements.”

As a result of delays in delivering some recycling bins for glass, metal and plastic, the amount of these materials collected has been lower than predicted. However, with most residents now having all the necessary bins, this should increase over the coming months.

“If the level of waste collections since October continues, we could see an overall recycling rate of 47 per cent for 2017/18, compared to 41 per cent in 2016/17,” Councillor McPake added. “This would be a significant step towards achieving the Scottish Government target of 60 per cent by 2020.

“I would like to thank all our residents for their patience during the introduction of the service and for their commitment to recycling which is delivering very encouraging results.”

North Lanarkshire Council red-tagged bins that did not comply with the new waste collection recycyling scheme.

Over the first three months of the service, there was an increased use of the council’s seven household waste recycling centres. However, waste from these sites is separated and recycled, including material placed in general waste skips which is sorted by the commercial processors.

The council says it has identified that some tagging of recycling bins was overly strict. Additional staff training has been provided and tagging will be monitored to ensure a more appropriate approach.